Schadenfreude
by Jinhito
Summary: There was a name for people like him... Sai licked his suddenly dry lips in anticipation.


**Title:** Schadenfreude  
**Author: **Jinhito  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, come on... poor college kid here! And thank you Germany for your contribution to the English language!  
**Summary:** There was a name for people like him... Sai licked his suddenly dry lips in anticipation.  
**Author's Note:** Written around the same time "Know By Heart" was but I decided to hold off on typing it up for the sake of my quasi-weekly postings. Whatever, it's a totally different genre to the latter story, hope you like it anyway.

--

The strokes of charcoal on the page ran up and down the expanse of white paper. These sheets were new, freshly bought and just demanding to be drawn on. Sai couldn't help but comply. A nice new shipment of his favorite medium had just arrived, what better way to break both in by sketching?

He hummed happily to himself, for once seemingly content in his environment. Lately things had been different, not so clear-cut as before.

The mission to retrieve Sasuke had been a failure... the new team seven returning with one critically injured Naruto and a rather emotionally distraught Sakura was all they had to show for their efforts.

Sai on the other hand, couldn't have been less fazed by the whole ordeal. He didn't have enough feeling left in his whole body to even be the least bit concerned.

He had no desire to be in the first place.

A quick strike up followed by a smooth slash down; he was adding shape and contour to his latest piece. The edges were becoming fuzzed the more he brushed his gloved hand over the work.

But after both his new charges had come to terms with their own personal demons, life had begun to look up - for him at least.

_"Good morning Naruto-kun."_

_There was a feeble attempt at a shrug but nothing more was uttered. The usually energetic blonde seemed to slump lower in his seat. Yamato had asked them all to meet together outside of a cafe in the district, something about the final mission reports needing to be addressed._

_By then Sakura had yet to show up, both boys could easily figure out that her tardiness dealt with her feminine appearance. Nasty scrapes and bruised cuts didn't look right on a supposedly pretty face._

"You don't seem too excited today," Sai observed soundly. He wasn't used to not being told off right away. Usually his greetings were dubbed smartass remarks, but Naruto was just being stubborn this morning.

_"Go find someone else to bother..."_

_That came out rather sullen and somewhat childish; his pride was still hurting._

_"Oh? But you're the only one here."_

_"Shut up."_

_That was weak and he knew it. Pointless and a sissy slap to the wrist - he didn't want to fight today._

_"As you wish..." Sai complied, snatching the nearest available seat next to his unwilling friend, if only just to spite him further. He smiled gently not bothering to go to extra lengths of annoyance; this victory was already his. Another easy one to chalk up on the board, the strikeout marking his second or third default win. It wasn't often the other rolled over to play possum._

_He was going to relish this all week._

And it was reflected in his artwork - more and more lines fading into one another, blurring and messy, dirty and unorganized. The smile on his face grew larger as he continued to linger on thoughts of Naruto, teeth beginning to show little by little.

He'd seen that weakness brought on by sorrow... He'd seen it so clearly, head it so loudly, he'd watched - he'd enjoyed watching Naruto cry.

The blonde had failed to bring his best friend back again... It was one of the meanest slaps reality could give. He hadn't been strong enough the first time, _wasn't_ strong enough the second time, would never be strong enough if life went on at this rate.

He'd lied to Sakura, broke her heart all over again when he couldn't keep his promise. Sai had been there, he'd seen the disappointment so vaguely evident on those pouty rose petal lips, had seen the slight quivering in those dampened emerald eyes...

All the while his blank face could only say the same old truth that Iruka-sensei used to preach about, "Don't make promises you can't keep."

And he'd watched, saw every second of raging agony tear through the other boy before him. It was twisted, sick and not so right when he felt something akin to satisfaction stir deep within him.

It was a beautiful, wonderful feeling. Absolutely exquisite... he was getting off on someone else's pain.

As tears rolled down Naruto's cheeks, leaving ruddy messy tracks over the whiskered indentations there, he'd begun to feel.

It was an emotion he couldn't name, but one felt nonetheless.

He wanted to watch this boy fall down, wanted to laugh as he sobbed about the absence of fair in his imperfect world. Sai wanted to gawk in morbid fascination as this boy tore himself apart; limb from body, morals from ethics.

Each more excruciating than the last... each only getting better than the first…

It wasn't even the need for physical pain that he craved - oh by no means was Sai a masochist... but he wasn't quite the sadist either.

Sakura said there was a name for people like him, the freaks in society who fed off the misfortunes of others.

Hunching forward, letting the shadow of his bangs obscure his eyes, the speed of his frantic scratching increased in fervor and fury. There was no question about it now... he liked someone else's sorrow.

The thin solid of carbon snapped under the pressure of his hectic movements. Giving up immediately, he tossed the wasted piece aside, digressing to a child smudge smearing his entire piece of artwork with a Van Gogh-esque approach.

He didn't care how it looked in the end; it was what it represented that mattered most.

This was glorious... so resembling the torrent of swirls he would feel imminently beginning in his gut when those around him suffered. He'd only had a taste the other day, now he wanted the rest.

Sai licked his suddenly dry lips in anticipation.

It was so good... he couldn't stop it from assaulting his senses in waves of raw feeling.

It was beyond insane. He didn't want it to ever end...

No.  
Not now...  
Not ever...

--

Hope you liked my interesting little take on Sai. This is actually the kind of person I see him as underneath the guise. Heh and it's one of the many reasons I'm writing _Only Me Now_. Reviews are wonderful but not expected, hope it was all you thought it would be and more...

By the way, did you know that German is the only language that has a word to describe a person taking pleasure from someone else's _sadness_? Yes, 'tis true!


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